Stories from Cecil's World
by fictionslayer
Summary: Welcome to Night Vale, short Cecilos stories from Cecil's perspective. (I am adding new stories regularly and they seem to be getting longer.)
1. Chapter 1

There is snow falling from the sky. Each little clump of snow is formed from individual snowflakes, each with six tiny arms. And on each arm are six tiny villages with tiny, tiny snow people, screaming as they fall through the winter air to join the millions below them in heaps of winter coldness and deceit.

I told Carlos about all of this as we walked through a small snowy woods. I asked him why each snowflake has exactly six arms. I still don't know why each snowflake has exactly six arms; I only asked him to hear the sound of his voice and I lost track of all the little words in between.

After a while, the voice stopped and he was looking into my eyes. Looking deep, deep into my eyes, and I looked into his, as the moment grew more and more intense, and suddenly the moment was broken as he asked, "Cecil, are you even listening?"

"I was listening," I said. "But the words seemed less important than the voice."

"It's just that usually when I talk about science you say, 'neat,' but today you were just staring..."

I was staring into his eyes, and he was staring into mine. Finally back to that intense moment again. As if eyes were truly the windows to the soul, and we were seeing each other, and understanding... Well, perhaps aside from the science part. Carlos' eyes were so deep though. I began to fear that I might fall into the abyss.

"So tell me again about why snowflakes have six arms," I said.

Carlos sighed and looked away as we began to make progress once more through the snow. I really did try to listen, but again I heard the voice stop and I knew nothing about the genetics of snowflakes.

"Neat," I said.


	2. Chapter 2

On my way home from the studio yesterday, I found a stone. It was a pretty stone. All brown around the edges like charred bones and a white spot of emptiness right in the middle. It was very polished and smooth as I rubbed it between my fingers. But what was I going to do with it? I already have a full-size, 1996 edition stone of Howling of Emptiness to use on every third full moon. (It's in excellent shape, by the way; I ought to show you some day.)

So anyway, as I was polishing this stone between my fingers I was thinking, I know just the thing! I'll give it to Carlos. Maybe he'll like it so much that he'll forget all about his science for a few minutes and say, "Cecil! What a great stone!" And maybe, just maybe he'll sweep me up in his arms and kiss me! Wouldn't that be great.

So I walked to the door of my and Carlos' house – because I've moved into his house now. He thought that would be better because he was worried about the mirrors in my house and how he wouldn't be able to fix his hair with a mirror, although I told him I like his hair perfectly fine when it's messy, but okay I like his house too, and anyway I walked in the door and said, "Carlos look at this stone I found!"

Usually it takes several times to get his attention when he's in the middle of an experiment but this time he came running and said, "Cecil! What a great stone!" And then he swept me up in his arms and kissed me. It was like a dream come true!

That is, until there was a big boom and the smell of smoke coming from the laboratory. I looked up worriedly but Carlos didn't seem concerned at all. "Carlos?" I asked. "Is your laboratory okay?"

"What laboratory?" said Carlos.

"The one where... your science is?" Oh dear, I thought, he needs to remember his laboratory!

"Oh no!" said Carlos suddenly. "My laboratory!" and he went running. I followed close behind.

The lab was in flames, and there weren't any fire extinguishers nearby, because everyone knows that they only call werewolves, which don't help at all with fires. Tears ran down Carlos's face. "Cecil," he said. "My life... in ruins." He buried his head into my shoulder and I wrapped an arm around him, as the fire flickered dangerously close and began to consume the entire room as the air filled with smoke.

By this time, I was starting to get the idea about the stone, however, and I simply wished, I wish the lab was back to how it was before the explosion and that this stone no longer existed, since clearly all it does is cause problems.

The weight vanished from my hand, and Carlos gasped as the experiment began to bubble over. He ran to the vial and quickly mixed some other things and sighed in relief. Then he looked up at me. "Cecil! What are you doing here?"

I thought about explaining about the stone which he had clearly forgotten all about (I thought I said "no longer existed," not "never existed in the first place," but perhaps dreams aren't real anyway.), but instead I just walked toward him and twirled my fingers through his perfect, perfect hair.

And I think I'd say I got two kisses for the price of one that day.


	3. Chapter 3

Rainclouds were gathering in the sky. So many rainclouds that everything we could see for miles was purple. And it was dark. So dark.

I went out to pick up some groceries for Carlos because he was in the middle of an important experiment, and I could barely see where I was going. Even my five flashlight vest was no help.

Everything was kind of misty and wet. Even the air was wet. I could taste it on my face. It was all really gloomy too, which was odd because usually when it's all wet and dark outside, we feel a sense of pride. You know, pride and rain. They always go together. Who would've thought that rain could bring a sense of gloom and doom.

I was on my way back with the milk and the leeches and other things when suddenly a giant purple zigzag – say, the width of an angel – if they existed, which they don't – and a height all the way up through the louds – this zigzag directly hit the top of Carlos' house. I heard a cry, and I ran in, dropping the blue oranges as I went.

Inside the house was all dark. "Carlos!" I called. "Are you alright!?"

"In here!" called his voice, from inside the laboratory.

I ran in, and immediately ran into a table which knocked over a vial which combined with something else and caused a small explosion. With that brief bit of light, I was able to see Carlos looking horrified as the lab was engulfed in a black smoky form. Then all was dark again, and I couldn't recall exactly the path that would take me to Carlos without knocking over anything else.

Then in the darkness, there were two glowing purple eyes. "Who dares to summon me?" said the form in a deep, booming voice that echoed far more than the reverberations in the laboratory should have allowed, yet which echoed more in my head than in the room. I wasn't sure it was actually speaking out loud. "Who dares summon the purple lightning?"

"I'm terribly sorry," said Carlos. "I had no intention of summoning anyone and was merely experimenting."

"And yet, you have summoned me, and now you must make three wishes or else I shall destroy you as my master the Glow Cloud commands!"

"Um, um, I wish to set you free," said Carlos nervously.

"Why thank you, that was quite generous," said the form, abruptly disappearing. Or at least, the glowing eyes disappeared. It was still completely pitch black in the room.

"Is it gone?" I asked Carlos.

"I don't know," he said. "But do you think the glow cloud will be angry now?" He sounded unusually nervous about this. Perfect Carlos. He was usually one of the bravest people I knew, willing to stop a small army or ring a doorbell on a house that didn't exist. And yet here he was, and he sounded as if he might even be afraid.

I reached out and tried to step in his general direction. After some awkward jabbing and poking trying to figure out where his hand was, I linked my fingers in his and gave a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry," I said. "The glow cloud can't come after us if it wants me to give it any good publicity."

"Good point," said Carlos, squeezing back, but he still didn't sound completely reassured. "By the way, the power's out."

"Let's go find some candles then," I said, secretly thanking the purple lighting for taking out the power. Because everyone knows that candles = a romantic evening. Maybe I could even make a nice dinner and cook the leeches the way my mother used to...


	4. Chapter 4

It was about six o' clock in the morning on a Tuesday when the phone rang. Not a cell phone ring, but a real, ringing, home phone. Now, this was rather strange because Carlos and I don't have a home phone.

I tumbled out of bed and looked around. Carlos had already left on his morning jog, so it was up to me to find this mysterious phone. I followed the sound down the hallway to a door that I didn't recognize. It was closed. I stood there for a moment, wondering whether Carlos would mind if I opened it (since it was his house and I was a fairly new resident). But then the phone rang very urgently again, so I opened it up and immediately tripped down a long flight of stairs.

Carlos had a basement? I didn't recall that being on his official house plans... Which I had looked at, you know, when he first came to Night Vale with his perfect hair and I wanted to make sure he wasn't suspicious or anything. And stuff.

It was pretty dark down there, since the door had shut behind me. Also I wasn't sure if it had just been one flight of stairs, or several of them. I could be several stories below his house, for all I knew, tumbling down stairs in the dark. It had felt like a long time. Several telephone rings.

Speaking of which, the telephone was still ringing. I reached out with my arms in the darkness, carefully sliding my feet forward and trying not to trip on anything as I moved toward the sound. Finally, it was right in front of my face. I reached out to grab it, and instead my fingers went into something soft and gooey. And warm. And also breathing. The ringing stopped.

"Um, hello," I said, suspecting the thing to be alive.

The thing responded with a series of sliding ringing tones.

"Oh, would you just like me to leave? That's fine," I said, though I couldn't understand a thing it was saying. I took a step back and started reaching out to find the stairs again, but a slimy tentacle – or at least that's what I assume it was, since it was so dark I couldn't see anything – reached out and grabbed me.

"Agh!" I yelled. "Carlooosss!"

There was a clatter and a bright light far, far above me, as Carlos opened the door. "Cecil? What is this?"

"Carlos help!" I yelled.

"Yes Carlos," said the thing that had grabbed me. "Do come help. I'm sure you'll be such a help in rescuing your little friend."

There was silence.

"Carlos?" I asked. He didn't move, didn't respond. "You still there?"

After another moment of silence, "Yes. Yes I'm coming to get you." He hurried down the stairs, holding a weapon of some sort, I hoped. It looked very much like a long stick.

The thing chuckled with anticipation. "Now I've got you," it said.

"No," said Carlos, reaching the bottom of the stairs. "No you haven't." Then he closed his eyes and jabbed forward with the stick. There was a loud POP and then a wooshing sound like air being let out of a balloon, as the thing shrank smaller and smaller until it was just a small lump.

I stepped away from it warily. "What was that thing?" I asked Carlos.

"That was fear, I think," said Carlos, visibly shaken. "Ever wonder why I'm so brave? I pushed all my fear away and it made its own room in the house and started to grow." He bent down and picked up the lump, which was then absorbed into his heart. "But I guess you just can't get rid of fear." He looked up at me with big, sad eyes.

I took a step forward and wrapped my arms around him. "Bravery isn't about getting rid of fear," I said, "it's about giving into fear and letting it consume you as you howl into the sky with a thousand other voices and know that we are all together in this terrifying reality." I felt Carlos hug me back, and lean his head on his shoulder, as things started to get a bit blurry around us.

"Um, Carlos, now that there's nothing creating this room..."

"Oh right, we should go," he said and we ran up the stairs into the light.


	5. Chapter 5

It was a very blustery day as I was walking to Carlos' house. So windy, in fact, that I could hear the wind howling like a pack of wild dogs. Or wolves. Or pandas. Probably the most like angry pandas.

The house looked dark on the inside, and I sighed happily. Another day with the power out and candles lit. But why hadn't Carlos lit the candles yet?

I picked up my pace and sprinted to the front door. I have my own key to the house now, so we can keep the door locked in an attempt to keep strange forms of darkness out. So far it had been quite effective, but it looked pretty dark in there.

"Carlos?" I called, as I wandered toward his lab. That's where he usually is, anyway.

Sure enough, there was a glow coming from the doorway.

"What are you doing?" I asked curiously as he poured various vials into a mixture.

"I, my dear Cecil, am attempting to create a new type of gold that is hypoallergenic," he said.

I missed most of what he said after 'my dear Cecil,' but it sounded interesting anyway. "Neat," I said, watching the process with fascination.

"And here it is," said Carlos, pulling out a ring. "One ring to rule them all. Ouch! I can report that it is not cool to the touch." He quickly turned to the sink to run cold water over his fingers.

"So is it gold? It looks kind of silver," I said.

"I'll have to do some tests," said Carlos.

I decided to stick around and watch him do the tests. It would be so cool if he knew how to make gold. We'd be such good citizens if we were rich.

The tests took a quite a while, and then finally Carlos reported, "It appears to be stainless steel."

"Neat!" I said. "Wait, don't we already have that?"

"Yes," said Carlos. "But I do not believe it has been possible to create stainless steel by mixing rocks and small amphibians together before. This certainly is a new discovery."

Just then, the entire house shook and the winds howled louder than ever. "All hail the glow cloud," Carlos and I said in unison, as a sound came from above, of small dead animals falling on the roof.

Carlos and I exchanged worried looks. "Do you think the glow cloud is angry about-"

"Shh!" I silenced Carlos. "Let's light some candles and eat dinner." I had nearly forgotten about how we had sort of released the glow cloud's servant when Carlos accidentally summoned it to his laboratory earlier that week.

'Some candles' ended up being one very small candle on the coffee table as we sat on the couch eating cold, leftover pizza.

"You know," said Carlos, the wind nearly covering his voice, "we never know what's going to happen next. We never know what our last words are going to be."

"Not any time soon. That we know," I said nervously.

"But you don't really know that, not for sure. Anyway, I know I don't say this often enough, but I just want to make sure you know that I love you. I love you Cecil. I came here in search of new scientific discoveries, but what I found was much better. I found you."

"I'm so glad you came to Night Vale," I said, nearly choking on my pizza as my soul filled with happiness. "I love you too. But nothing is going to happen to us." I put down my slice of pizza and wrapped an arm around Carlos. He rested his head on my shoulder. I think my shoulder is kind of cold and bony, but he didn't seem to mind.

We sat like that for what felt like a long time, but was probably only minutes or weeks, until the storm passed and the power flickered back on. Whether or not the glow cloud had been after us, it had passed for now and was problem for another day.

"I guess we should put away the rest of the pizza now," I said, "and then maybe watch some TV."

"Or we could just stay here," said Carlos, "just like this."

"Yes... I like that idea," I said, leaning my head on top of his. "I like that idea very much."


End file.
